


The Forward Past

by partypaprika



Category: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 06:19:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13140843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partypaprika/pseuds/partypaprika
Summary: Sometimes Keita forgets that he almost lost Thaniel. He’s lost many things over the years—places and people and trinkets and inventions. But none of them have ever been Thaniel.





	The Forward Past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nnozomi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nnozomi/gifts).



Sometimes Keita forgets that he almost lost Thaniel. He’s lost many things over the years—places and people and trinkets and inventions. But none of them have ever been Thaniel.

He tries not to think back to that night—the future of Grace and Thaniel together, Thaniel drifting away—because it hurts too much. And yet, sometimes, in the middle of the night, Keita wakes from a dream in which he will only have Thaniel for a short while, in which Thaniel will never truly know him and Keita will lose their future. On those nights, Thaniel seems to know, perhaps Thaniel has his own special abilities, and he curls up against Keita, holding him tight. It reminds Keita of Katsu—or maybe Katsu reminded Keita of Thaniel. It’s so hard to tell.

 

After Grace leaves and the paperwork filed with the government officially dissolves their union—annulled, the word shockingly bold when printed on paper—Thaniel seems to grow sturdier, more solid.

“Tell me about your childhood,” Keita says one early evening. Thaniel is idly plinking keys on the piano, half composing the most beautiful sonata that he’ll finish in about three months. Thaniel smiles absently and plays a scale and then launches into a background melody.

“Well, you know about Annabel—she largely raised me. My father focused most of his efforts on being a gamekeeper, but he supported us. I don’t know if I have that many memories of him,” Thaniel says. He looks at Keita to see if he wants more. Keita nodes. “One time, when I was young, he took me up north to visit my mother’s parents. I was scared of them—didn’t like new people, although I suppose that hasn’t changed—and hid behind my father for most of the visit. He didn’t yell at me, just let me be. He was like that.”

Keita nods, seeing it all play out. Thaniel has always been himself—it’s what Keita always has and always will like best about Thaniel.

 

Ito comes to visit Keita one early afternoon, when they both knew that Thaniel would be at work. Keita gives Six some money to buy some used chains, letting her know exactly how much he’s given her, how much the chains will cost and how much she is allowed to take and spend for herself. Six gives him a long look, but nods, satisfied with the computations.

Ito knocks on the door, brisk and professional, and Keita is already there, opening the door. He can’t help but smile, the memories of working together, slotting in. Although Ito will never understand it, Keita is thankful for Ito—he appreciated and enjoyed working for Ito. He just had something important that he couldn’t miss—Thaniel.

“Mori,” Ito says, and Keita bows, which Ito mirrors. “How are you these days?”

Keita smiles. “I am good. Thaniel is good. Would you like to come in and have some tea?”

A smile plays on Ito’s lips. “I have a feeling that you have my favorite tea prepared exactly to my liking,” he says.

Keita smiles in response and leads Ito into his kitchen. It’s small and cramped, but Ito admirably pretends not to notice.

“Now that you have met your friend, what do you plan to do?” Ito asks.

Keita shrugs. “There are a few things that may happen. Thaniel is curious about Japan and his Japanese is quite good. We may visit Japan. He is also doing well in the Foreign Office. He may want to stay here and see how far he can rise.”

Ito raises an eyebrow at that. “I suppose that he will rise as far as he wants to go?”

Keita laughs at that, full-bodied. “Perhaps not quite. I cannot see everything. But I think that neither of us would want that.”

Ito nods at that. “I am glad to hear that.” And perhaps that settles some deep-seated concern, because Ito allows the conversation to move on and there’s an ease to his face that Keita hasn’t seen directed at him since Japan.

They spend the rest of the afternoon discussing matters of foreign affairs. It is ill-advised to share state secrets with someone who isn’t affiliated with the Japanese government, but both of them know quite well the extent of Keita’s abilities and probabilities. If Keita had wanted Ito to be dead, there had been ample opportunity, after all.

When they finish, it’s early evening. “Thank you for the tea,” Ito says seriously. “And if you do come to Japan, I am at your service.”

 “Thank you,” Keita says. “You’ll want to make sure that you take a cab. It looks like it will rain.” It’s a polite fiction that they both allow to exist as they say goodbye.

 

When Thaniel gets home that night, he’s giddy with excitement and he brings three fresh steaks for Keita, Six and himself that Keita can smell sizzling in their oven as Thaniel walks home. He has just gotten promoted—Arinori had met Thaniel and instantly tried to steal him away for his own team. It seems that Mr. Fanshaw is smarter than he looks, rising to the occasion and determined to keep one of his best employees in the future.

Thaniel tries to be modest about it, but Six is excited by the steak and demands the reason for it. Six is big on reasons, but Thaniel always likes that about her, and seriously explains how his work is structured. Six nods along, picking up only the silly things like how Mr. Fanshaw stole Thaniel from the Home Office and that Thaniel is supposed to now teach Japanese to some of the other Foreign Office boys.

“Will they speak it as good as me?” Six demands.

“No,” Keita answers. “You will speak it even better than Thaniel.” Six seems satisfied by that and thinks it over for the rest of dinner. When she finishes, she politely excuses herself and goes to steal Thaniel’s dictionary.

“I suppose I will have to get one for her,” Keita says, although he feels proud of it.

“She can have mine,” Thaniel says and he looks almost shy. “We can go and buy another one together.”

That night, Thaniel practices the piano softly, not wanting to wake Six, and the sonata has started to come together—the first part turning into a sweet allegro, although it will need a second piano. Keita can almost hear the part that he will play—it’s close but not quite done.

Keita comes to join Thaniel and stands behind him, humming the second part to provide the proper melody for Thaniel and Thaniel closes his eyes and leans into the music. Suddenly the notes become crystal clear and _right_ , in only the way that a perfect piece can be.

They finish together, as if on cue, and Thaniel still hasn’t opened his eyes. He reaches up to hold Keita’s hand, immobilizing him, as he turns around so that he’s facing Keita, eyes closed as Thaniel looks up. “Your voice is so beautiful,” Thaniel says. “It’s gold all around me.”

He pulls Keita down and they kiss, the echoes of Thaniel’s sonata playing around them. Keita can see so many futures for himself and Thaniel, but there is no sweeter future than the present.

 


End file.
